NC-17 for sex

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: Say You Love Me Too

Chapter 24

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: On Father's Day, Abbey and the girls took Jed to the farm; taking in the serene surroundings, Abbey told Jed she wanted to move the family to the farm

Summary: Abbey gives Jed his Father's Day gifts; Jed and Abbey intimately reconnect

- - -

Jed loved her long red bathrobe almost as much as Abbey loved wearing it. Terrycloth wrapped in a satiny velour exterior was as sexy to him as it was comforting to her. He watched through the open doorway as she walked slowly towards him, her focus devoted to the moisturizer she was massaging into her hands.

"Are the girls asleep?" she asked, her head still down.

"I just tucked them in," Jed responded, caught slightly off-guard by the lilac scent radiating from her wet hair.

"Good."

"Why good?"

She dropped her arms to her side and greeted him with a flirtatious stare. "Because it's still Father's Day and I haven't given you my gift yet."

"You mean the day you planned wasn't your gift?"

"That was only part of it." Her seductive grin widened as she handed him two wrapped presents. "Open the small one first."

Jed carefully removed the tape from the edge. If there was one thing she hated, it was the meticulous way he would open a present, as if he wanted to save the paper to reuse at another time. He knew how much that frustrated her and every now and then, when a sudden surge of honesty would hit him, he'd admit that was one reason he did it.

Abbey lifted her knee to the mattress and leaned towards him the way she usually did just before she'd begin intrusively ripping the package open. This time, he purposely kept it out of her reach. But his manipulation faded as he pulled out a mug with an unusual photograph printed on the side.

"Oh wow." He wasn't sure how to react to the picture of a dozen men dressed in stereotypical pirate attire, complete with a head rag, balloon pants, black riding boots, and an eye patch. "This is..." He struggled to find the right word. "Interesting." That wasn't exactly it.

"Turn it around."

Across the top of the opposite side he found blue script that read 'King Josiah and Queen Abigail.' That, he understood with a laugh.

"Okay, I get this one," he assured her, then turned it in his hands for another glance at the photo. "But what about this? Who are they?"

"You're kidding." No, he really wasn't. He was as confused as he had ever been. "Those are the Ableteers."

Jed looked at the mug. "The Ableteers?" He turned his gaze back to Abbey. "Ableteers?"

"From your story." His glossy glare strengthened in disbelief, so she continued. "You know, Queen Abigail grows up with the Ableteers before she meets King Josiah."

"Abbey, what did you think I meant when I told you about the Ableteers?"

"That was your way of poking fun at my ancestors...Thomas Weathergill, the privateer." His eyes widened as she spoke. Despite his best efforts, a hardy chuckle escaped him. "What? Why are you laughing?

"No, no, no, no, no." He laughed even harder. "Ableteers. Abbey, the Ableteers...they're people. You know, people who grew up in Absville, the fictional name I used for your hometown in Vermont. Ableteers are your childhood friends, your family. Normal, everyday people."

"It reminded me of privateers."

"You thought I was telling you a story about growing up in the caring bosom of pirates?"

"They weren't pirates. They worked for us."

"Abbey, come on. You were picturing all these horrific-looking...whatever...in that charming little story?" He stared at her as a moment of silence passed between them. "What the hell kind of things go on in that mind of yours anyway?"

"Hey!" she snapped, retrieving the mug from his grip. "It was an easy mistake. Ableteers, privateers..."

"You scare me, Hot Pants."

"Jed."

"I mean it. You really scare me. You should be terrified of pirates." He pointed to the cup as she placed it on the nightstand. "This isn't normal."

"All right, fine. You made your point. Now open the other gift before I take it back." As she handed him another present, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her in close.

"All kidding aside, I love the mug," he said with a quick kiss to her lips. "Thank you."

"It's not going to give you nightmares?"

"Nah, it'll roll right off my back."

"Mmm hmm," she replied, unconvinced.

Realizing he had already tried her patience enough for one night, he tore open the wrapping paper on this gift in one rip and pulled the top off the box. He gasped as he looked at the beautiful white leather scrapbook inside. Abbey crawled towards him on the bed, reaching down to pull it out when Jed's hands seemed to freeze around the edge of the package.

"It's gorgeous," he said, referring to the calligraphy on the cover. Red paint strokes spelled out their names - Josiah and Abigail Bartlet. Their wedding picture appeared underneath with the date - July 22, 1967 - below.

"Well? Aren't you going to peek inside?" She locked eyes with him for a second before directing him to flip through the pages.

This was a true surprise. Never had he expected her to gather all these photographs and paste them inside such an exquisite book with fully detailed descriptions outlining every page. The milestones were easy. He was certain she remembered Christmases and birthdays. But it was the other pictures that brought a tear to his eye.

"This is..." he started, pointing to one of those photos.

"No," she interrupted him. "The reason they're all in there is because I remember them. So let me." She pulled the book slightly to get a better look at the page. "That's a picture Lizzie snapped in the car on the way back from Yellowstone."

"Yeah."

"We had just crossed the Wyoming line and she asked why the pavement was red." Jed nodded. "Ellie told her that it was because someone forgot to cover it with sunblock."

He returned her chuckle, cautiously stunned by what she remembered. The most minute details seemed to come to her effortlessly. "I assumed those kinds of memories were gone forever."

"You read the literature. You talked to Susan. She said all the memories could be recovered."

"I know. It's just...I was afraid to hope. I didn't want to be disappointed."

All his hurt of the past several weeks came barging through in those few words. His pained expression nearly broke Abbey's heart. "You won't be." She turned the pages rapidly. "You see all these pictures? Like I said, every single one is in here because I remember it. Everything about it."

"Really?"

"I wouldn't have been able to write the descriptions if I hadn't." She sensed his skepticism. "Go on, point to a picture."

He flipped towards the back and picked out a random photo. "This one?"

"That was taken at a ski lodge in Killington." She triumphantly lifted her chin. "I kicked your ass that weekend, as I recall."

His competitive hackles successfully raised, he abandoned the sensitive discussion. "That isn't exactly fair, Abigail. I'm afraid of heights and speed."

"You're the one who suggested the black diamond run. And you know why?"

"Because I wasn't afraid of heights and speed until I got to the top?"

"Because you can't stand to think that you might not be the best at everything." She laughed as his bottom lip quivered speechlessly, a failed attempt to dispute the accusation.

"It was supposed to be a FUN weekend."

"Oh, it was fun. I had a ball watching you hurl down that mountain at warp speed, your arms flailing wildly, your hands trying desperately to grab a tree."

"I made it to the bottom."

"On your knees, praying to the Heavens." He wasn't nearly as amused. "You're the one who asked about the picture."

"All you had to say was it was taken at the lodge in Killington."

"Sorry," she offered sincerely. "Your phobias are nothing to joke about."

A few weeks ago, he would have given anything for her to remember. Now he wondered how to selectively make her forget. "Yeah. Well, it's not like you're exactly normal."

"Excuse me?"

He turned the page of the book and pointed to another picture. "What's that?"

She snatched it away from him. "Nothing."

"Hey!" He took it back before she could close the cover. "Come on. You put it in the book and you said you remember. What is it? Where was it taken?"

"Fine. I'm not self-conscious about it. It's a picture of you and me, taken at Kate's wedding years ago. Lizzie was the flower girl."

"Aaanndd?" She conveniently avoided the rest of the story. "What happened at that wedding? You were her Matron of Honor, right?"

"You know what happened."

"I do, but I'm not the one overcoming suppressed memories. So what happened?"

He wasn't giving up. That was pretty obvious. "I couldn't help it."

"A spider crawls across the room and your screams damn-near cleared out the church."

"It was big and hairy."

"It was a baby," he countered. "All New England spiders are wussy babies. You want to see real spiders, try California some time." He stopped talking when he looked back down at the picture, overcome by a twinge of guilt.

"What?" she asked, concerned. "Jed?"

Perhaps the banter wasn't appropriate now. Perhaps now his concentration should have been exclusively devoted to the fact that his greatest fear had been washed away by his wife's desire to reclaim their life. After all, that was the real gift.

"This is just such a wonderful present and here we are teasing each other." His voice broke slightly. "You remember everything?"

"Every single bit. Everything. It's like I never forgot." She noticed his eyes still glued to the picture. "What is it?"

He shook his head sharply. "Nothing. You just look so beautiful."

He took a deep breath as he looked to her to take in her present beauty. Her wet hair was slowly drying into auburn ringlets and her naked face shined with a natural glow. She was gorgeous.

"Thank you."

He closed the book so his fingers could gloss over the picture on the front. "Tell me about this."

Nostalgia was a wonderful thing. Sentimental emotions were hard to disguise, but thankfully, between husband and wife, there was no need to hide.

"That's our wedding day, the day we professed our love to each other, the day I told you we were starting our family. I told you I was pregnant right after the ceremony."

"It's the day you made me the luckiest, happiest man in the world," he concluded as he leaned towards her to steal a kiss. "And today, I think you've done it all over again with this. It's not just a book. It's a gift of your love."

Reliving the profound love of the past and the memories that went along with it, was almost worth forgetting them in the first place. Almost.

Abbey embraced another kiss, and then another, Jed's body pushing into hers as each one became more passionate than the last. She fell backwards onto the mattress. Jed braced himself on his hands as their lips never lost contact. She shifted herself to give him access to her neck, his warm breath sending chills up her spine. Her body was reacting to his, moving with the same motion, her hips thrusting up to meet the protruding bulge in his pants.

"Abbey?" He searched her eyes for permission.

"Make love to me, Jed."

She quickly fingered the buttons of his shirt, almost ripping them from the fabric as she pressed the palms of her hands to his masculine chest and pushed it off his shoulders in one outward stroke.

He tugged on the belt on her robe. The flaps dropped to the side, revealing her naked, uncovered body. She lifted herself to pull her arms from the sleeves, then bent up at the waist as she worked the zipper on his pants. With a gentle glide down his thighs, she pushed them to his ankles.

His toes went to work, yanking the trousers from his legs and with gentle fingers, he brushed back the wet strands of hair off her forehead with. "Are you sure?"

They hadn't been intimate since the attack.

"Yeah," she answered with a nod. "Just don't hold my wrists."

"If I go too far, you'll let me know?"

She may not have been raped, but she was physically assaulted and held down against her will. The thought that he might do something to provoke the fear she felt that night, gave him pause.

"We have a safe word. I remember that too."

"The second you say it, we'll stop. No questions asked."

He smiled with hesitation as his fingers began to explore her body like never before. There was a certain tenderness, a subtlety neither was used to. His mouth rested against the valley between her breasts, his hands reaching a little further down.

She moaned softly and arched her back, causing him to stop immediately.

"Is that okay?"

She was nearly laughing now, touched by his sweet, caring treatment. She grabbed the back of his neck and pulled his head to hers. With her leg hooked around his, he allowed his body to fall weightless as she rolled them over.

She sat on top, straddling his thighs as she leaned forward to probe his mouth. Her body was rubbing against his, the friction becoming unbearable. She lifted herself to find her position then lowered slowly, taking in every exhilarating second as he entered her. She was moving with a certain rhythm now, methodically bringing him to the edge by leaning backwards to the deepest point of penetration. He curled his fingers around the sheets, unwilling to let himself go until she was ready.

Her eyes were wet with anticipation, his with pure bliss. He placed his hands on her hips and rolled them back over, still buried deeply inside her. She rested flat on her back as his fingers found their way to the spot where they were joined. She was ready. He could feel it. But it was too soon. He wanted this moment to last longer. He wanted the payoff to surpass her expectations.

He withdrew and opened her legs a little wider. Less than a second passed before she felt the wet strokes of his tongue deep in the folds of her sexuality, massaging all the right places of the little nub that would sensually stifle her breath. He held the tops of her thighs as he pressed his head in a little harder, her center fully enveloped in his mouth.

She squirmed uncontrollably. He removed his mouth and plunged himself inside her with renewed vigor. She held his shoulders as her head dipped back into the pillow, pulling her hips higher into the air to meet every one of his stimulating thrusts. Her heels pressed into his flesh, encouraging him to increase the pace.

He held on to her as she tightened around him, her muscles constricting with pleasure. He pushed in deeper, strengthening his hold as they both teetered at the brink of ecstasy. With one last thrust, she moaned a sound that came from the innermost depths of her soul. His name escaped her lips, followed immediately by his trembling frame collapsing to the side.

Their bodies entangled, their breaths ragged and wistful, they rested in the comfort of one another. Jed kept his eyes open, staring at the woman beside him. His hands left her head, where he had been lovingly playing with her hair, and followed a trail to her chest. Her heart was beating softly at a normal rhythm. He moved closer to hear the sound. It was the sweetest sound in the whole world. He moved up her sleeping form to give her a delicate kiss on the cheek, then lifted the arm that was draped around him, snaked out from under the leg that covered his, and rolled out of bed.

He reached for his robe, a pack of cigarettes, and a lighter before retreating out the side porch to the old wooden swing that overlooked the moonlit fields. It was a beautiful night. The darkened, cloudless sky twinkled with sparkling stars. Not even a howl of wind or detectable sound of animals in the barn. It was quiet. Ominously quiet.

He was out there mere minutes when he heard Abbey's footsteps approaching.

"Hey," she said.

"You were asleep."

"Yeah. But I felt you leave."

"I'm sorry."

She sat beside him, her eyes focused straight ahead as she reached to the side and took the lit cigarette out of his mouth and crushed it under her feet. Neither flinched. Years of familiarity had taught them both that was an expected move.

He grabbed the pack on the other side and pulled out a fresh one, putting it in his mouth and lighting it almost immediately. That was expected too, but she didn't fight it.

"Having nightmares about those pirates?" She knew how to make him laugh.

"It's a wonder you're not."

"Why are you out here?" she asked more seriously.

He turned his head to the other side to exhale. "Just thinking."

"About what?"

"About us, the girls, the farm." He dropped the burning ember to the ground and stepped on it to extinguish the flame. "I just want you to always be happy. I want you to feel safe. I think we should move to the farm, just like you said."

"We have a year to decide. I mean, it isn't like we can sell the house in a couple of days. Besides, Ellie starts kindergarten in the fall. I'd rather not move her or Lizzie in the middle of the school year."

"Yeah."

She inched herself closer to him. "Maybe next summer?"

"Yeah."

He seemed reluctant. Somber really. "Only if you want to."

He sputtered at the thought. "What I've realized over the past several weeks is that it doesn't matter where we live or how we live or what we do, as long as we're together, Abbey. As long as we're all happy and healthy, I'm perfectly satisfied."

Silence lingered between them for several minutes, until she curled up beside him and rested her head against his chest. "I love you."

He curved himself down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead as his arms formed a protective V around her frame. "I love you too."

The End

To be continued in Phoenix